Obviously it were the devs, who ultimately made the decision, thats why I wrote this as last: "So, basically what has lead Fallen Earth here, has been extremely poor management, where those in charge didn't know anything about their customers and just let them direct by a vocal minority on the forums. "
You guys may have disliked the outcome, but that doesn't change the fact, that you guys were always complaining about the current state of the affairs(be it before the changes, or after), most vocal was Wolves of War leader (Subzero-something? details are bit fuzzy, its been almost 10 years by now), of course because of that whole clan of theirs was cheering for everything he said. :) The combat was mostly complained about, how dodge sucked and how it was not shooter-like.. how there were too many skills. Guess what, it was changed.. coincidence? Then there were people, who joined Fallen Earth, but couldn't let go of the previous shooter they were playing, Planetside was one of the games, which was always brought up as example, what direction FE should go. You guys were complaining, how those pesky PvE crafters were roaming around freely getting all the goodies and how it would benefit the game, when some best materials were exclusive to the PvP zones. Because apparently it would be fun for the PvErs to come there and try to get the mats, while PvP-ers try to snipe them down.